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Intel launches the new Atom E3900 series CPUs as it continues its push into IoT

By Wong Chung Wee - on 25 Oct 2016, 7:28pm

Intel launches the new Atom E3900 series CPUs as it continues its push into IoT

(Image source: Intel)

Intel has officially launched its new Atom “Apollo Lake” E3900 series processors as the chipmaker continues its push into the Internet of Things. According to the company, the new Atom CPU is built from ground up to handle the rapid and ever growing complexity of IoT infrastructures.

(Image source: Intel)

At launch, there are three SKUs that make up the new series; at the top, there’s the quad-core Intel Atom x7-E3950, with a rated clock speed of 2.0GHz. All three Atom processors feature 14nm Goldmont CPU cores; they also feature the 9th generation Intel HD graphics cores. In terms of graphics processing, the Atom x7-E3950 processor has most execution units (EUs), 18 to be exact. The other two processors, the quad-core Atom x5-E3940, and the duo-core Atom x5-E3930, have 12 Intel HD graphics EUs. As the Atom processors are expected to power IoT devices that operate in extreme conditions, the chips’ rated operating temperatures range from -40 degrees Celsius to 85 degrees Celsius.

(Image source: Intel)

The Atom E3900 series are targeted at varied market segments that range from automotive, industrial, digital security and surveillance, manufacturing and retail. As direct successors to the Atom E3800 family, the new Atom processors are up to 1.7x faster in terms of compute performance, and in the 3D graphical processing department, the “Apollo Lake” Atom chips offer up to 2.9x performance improvement over the incumbents. As expected, one of their main selling points is the ability of the E3900 chip to support up to three displays, without the need for a discrete graphics card. They also support new APIs like DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.2. Based on the strengths of their Intel HD graphics engine, the Atom E3900 CPUs are highly applicable to automotive and video market segments.

(Image source: Intel)

For the automotive market, their 3D graphical compute capabilities will drive software-defined cockpits for immersive driving experiences. At the same time, they are able to enhance in-vehicular experience, especially in infotainment. For the video market segment, in particular, IP cameras for digital security and surveillance, as well as network video recorders (NVR), the versatility of the new Atom E3900 processors put them in good stead. Their strong image processing capabilities enable them to handle a gamut of tasks, which range from chroma and luma noise reduction, to multi-frame displays.

(Image source: Intel)

With the support for Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) technology, the new Atom chips enable timing accuracy of 1 microsecond across a network. This feature allows them to be deployed industrial robots that are used in large scale manufacturing. Intel has already shipped the new Atom E3900 CPUs to over 29 IoT equipment manufacturers.

Another pertinent feature that addresses the pressing need for security in IoT devices is the support for Intel Trusted Execution Engine 3.0 where secure boot and the Intel Platform Trust technology has been extended to the Linux platform. The new Atom processors also have support for Intel’s new encryption instructions sets that include Intel SHA-NI and RDRAND. Intel aims to strengthen its push into IoT application with the launch of the new Atom E3900 family by targeting key vertical markets of automotive and industrial production.

Take note that the Atom E3900 family differs from the first salvo of Apollo Lake SoC processors launched earlier this year targeting the entry-level mobile and desktop markets.

(Source: Intel)

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